"Acclaimed Colombian Institution Has 4,800 Books and 10 Legs "

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/20/world/americas/20burro.html?pagewanted=all

This man, Luis Soriano, is an inspiration to all of us. He is making a difference in his small part of the world. Two donkeys and he travel through rural Columbia and he carries with him an assortment of books that he loans out in what he calls his "BiblioBurro" He receives no government funding and pays for the books from his own small salary. Recently he has begun to get some small book and money help from others, but still Mr. Soriano is the one delivering the books.

Excerpts from The New York Times article
Scott Dalton for The New York Times

“I started out with 70 books, and now I have a collection of more than 4,800,” said Mr. Soriano, 36, a primary school teacher who lives in a small house here with his wife and three children, with books piled to the ceilings. "

“We can take political talk only so far, of course,” he said, referring to the looming threat of retaliation from the paramilitary groups, which have effectively defeated the guerrillas in this part of northern Colombia. “I learned that if I interest just one person in reading a mundane news item — say, about the rising price of rice — then that’s a step forward.”